You can use to say the least to suggest that a situation
is actually much more extreme or serious than you say it is.

ex) Accommodation was basic to say the least.

──────────────────────────────
as often as not, たびたび、しばしば
──────────────────────────────
Pitfalls of Multitasking (4)より

If you say that something happens as often as not, or
more often than not, you mean that it happens fairly
frequently, and that this can be considered as typical
of the kind of situation you are talking about.

ex) Yet, as often as not, they find themselves the target
of persecution rather than praise.

If you get something in perspective or into perspective,
you judge its real importance by considering it in relation
to everything else. If you get something out of perspective,
you fail to judge its real importance in relation to
everything else.

A bottleneck is a situation that stops a process or activity
from progressing.

ex) He pushed everyone full speed ahead until production hit
a bottleneck.

──────────────────────────────
train of thought, 思考の流れ
──────────────────────────────
A train of thought or a train of events is a connected
sequence, in which each thought or event seems to occur
naturally or logically as a result of the previous one.

ex) He lost his train of thought for a moment, then
recovered it.

──────────────────────────────
out of whack, 調子が悪い、かみ合わない
──────────────────────────────
If something is out of whack, it is not working properly,
often because its natural balance has been upset.
[mainly AM][INFORMAL]

ex) The ecosystem will be thrown out of whack.

──────────────────────────────
tout, もてはやす、しつこく勧める
──────────────────────────────
If someone touts something, they try to sell it or convince
people that it is good.

ex) a popular advertising industry practice of using
performers to tout products.

──────────────────────────────
sneaking suspicion, ひそかな疑い
──────────────────────────────
A sneaking feeling is a slight or vague feeling, especially
one that you are unwilling to accept.

ex) I have a sneaking suspicion that they are going
to succeed.

sneaking sympathy ひそかな同情

──────────────────────────────
その他にも、次も押さえておきたい。[誌面の都合上省略] ★は重要表現
──────────────────────────────
as often as not, たびたび、しばしば
keep the big picture in perspective, 広い観点から[視野で]考える
ray of hope, 希望の光

──────────────────────────────
merrily, [皮肉的に]（大変なことに気がつかないで）楽しげに
──────────────────────────────
If you say that someone merrily does something, you are
critical of the fact that they do it without realizing
that there are a lot of problems which they have not
thought about.

ex) Both NATO and the Community knew they could not go
merrily on as before.

──────────────────────────────
tax one's mind, 頭を絞る
──────────────────────────────
If something taxes your strength, your patience, or your
resources, it uses nearly all of them, so that you have
great difficulty in carrying out what you are trying to do.

ex) Overcrowding has taxed the city's ability to deal with
waste.

このtaxは、「重い負担をかける、無理な要求をする、酷使する」
ですな。

──────────────────────────────
sleep on, …を一晩寝て考える
──────────────────────────────
If you sleep on an idea, you delay making a decision
about it until the next day.

ex) Are you sure you don't want to sleep on it?
You may have changed your mind by tomorrow.

Some of those fiascos are due to the left hand and right
hands wreaking chaos on our single-track mentalities.

People have embraced multitasking as a shortcut that
saves time on bus workloads.

I remember when what passes now for multitasking used
to be called absentmindedness or lack of attention.

His afternoon class was a demonstration of frog dissection.

■意味を考えてみよう。答えは以下で

fiasco
wreak chaos
embrace
absentmindedness
dissection
single-track
run against the clock
buy into
pass for
carryall
ghastly
moral of the story
home in on

──────────────────────────────
fiasco, 大失態 [失敗]
──────────────────────────────
If you describe an event or attempt to do something as a
fiasco, you are emphasizing that it fails completely.

ex) The blame for the Charleston fiasco did not lie with him.

──────────────────────────────
wreak chaos, 混乱をもたらす
──────────────────────────────
Something or someone that wreaks havoc or destruction causes
a great amount of disorder or damage. [JOURNALISM or][LITERARY]

ex) Violent storms wreaked havoc on the French Riviera,
leaving three people dead and dozens injured.

──────────────────────────────
embrace, 取り入れる
──────────────────────────────
If you embrace a change, political system, or an idea,
you accept it and start supporting it or believing in it.
[FORMAL]

ex) He embraces the new information age.

元々は、抱きしめる hug という意味。

──────────────────────────────
absentmindedness, うわの空
──────────────────────────────
Someone who is absent-minded forgets things or does not pay
attention to what they are doing, often because they are
thinking about something else.

ex) In his later life he became even more absent-minded.

──────────────────────────────
dissection, 解剖
──────────────────────────────
If someone dissects the body of a dead person or animal,
they carefully cut it up in order to examine it scientifically.

This guy circulated a snarling e-mail message urging
his employees to milk their clients and made threats
of layoffs and hiring freezes if corporate performance
didn't improve.

Once I was on the phone booking a trip to Beijing while
also composing e-mail to my boss about the need to fire
a certain HR consultant for incompetence.

All of a sudden, I realized that I had inadvertently sent
the message to the consultant himself.

■意味を考えてみよう。答えは以下で

make a laughingstock out of oneself
snarling
milk
incompetence
inadvertently
hiring freeze
inherent in
be hard on
ambidextrous

──────────────────────────────
make a laughingstock out of oneself, 笑いものになる
──────────────────────────────
If you say that a person or an organization has become a
laughing stock, you mean that they are supposed to be
important or serious but have been made to seem ridiculous.

ex) The truth must never get out. If it did she would
be a laughing-stock.

──────────────────────────────
snarling, 威嚇的な
──────────────────────────────
When an animal snarls, it makes a fierce, rough sound
in its throat while showing its teeth.

ex) The dogs snarled at the intruders.

──────────────────────────────
milk, 搾り取る
──────────────────────────────
If you say that someone milks something, you mean that they
get as much benefit or profit as they can from it, without
caring about the effects this has on other people.

ex) A few people tried to milk the insurance companies.

──────────────────────────────
incompetence, 無能力
──────────────────────────────
If you refer to someone's incompetence, you are criticizing
them because they are unable to do their job or a task properly.

ex) The incompetence of government officials is appalling.

──────────────────────────────
inadvertently, うかつにも、うっかりして
──────────────────────────────
An inadvertent action is one that you do without realizing
what you are doing.

If someone or something gets under your skin, they begin
to affect you in a significant way, so that you become
very interested in them or very fond of them.
（知らぬ間に）…の気持ちをとらえる

どちらも何かが皮膚の下に入ってくるというイメージです。

──────────────────────────────
bellyaching, 愚痴[不平]を言うこと
──────────────────────────────
If you say that someone is bellyaching you mean they
complain loudly and frequently about something and you think
this is unreasonable or unjustified. [INFORMAL]

ex) Everyone is bellyaching about recession.

bellyacheは、「腹痛」

──────────────────────────────
fish for, …を聞き出す、…を探り出す
──────────────────────────────
If you fish for information or praise, you try and get it
from someone in an indirect way.

The point is that you can't just get rid of a boss,
no matter what you think of him or her. So you might
as well work to make the boss as effective and successful
as possible.

上司の存在をなくすことはできないので、上司を前提条件と捉え、
その中での最善策を考える。

野球の監督が選手をいかに使って試合をするかに通じるものがあります。

You can't expect to change a boss's personality or work habits.

上司の行動を変えようなどと思ってはいけない。

ビジネス英会話らしいですね。こういうテーマをもっと増やしたら
いいと思いますね。

■意味を考えてみよう。今日取り上げる単語が含まれています。

The best prescription for own success is, after all,
to work for a boss who is going places.

And I bet you Shuzo's going all the way.

So you need to take mental notes of what he does well and
how you can compensate for vulnerabilities on his behalf.

What you can do is learn how to cope with the pressures
thrown up as part of his problems.

■意味を考えてみよう。答えは以下で

go places
go all the way
compensate for
vulnerability
throw up
tough call

──────────────────────────────
go places, 出世する
──────────────────────────────
If you say that someone is going places, you mean that they
are showing a lot of talent or ability and are likely to
become very successful.

ex) When we came out, one of the doctors said, 'You're
a hell of a surgeon. You are going places.'

ex) MPs say it is crucial that a mechanism is found to
compensate for inflation.

──────────────────────────────
vulnerability, 弱さ、もろさ
──────────────────────────────
Someone who is vulnerable is weak and without protection,
with the result that they are easily hurt physically or
emotionally.

They pooh-pooh a helping hand from above as if
it had no bearing on their job performance.

When the crunch comes, that's sure to be self-defeating.

■意味を考えてみよう。答えは以下で

self-sufficient
pooh-pooh
have no bearing on
crunch
self-defeating
sum someone up
where one stands
get in someone's way
in one's best interests
That's the ticket
affable
short fuse
even-tempered
serenely
on an even keel
equanimity
cunning

──────────────────────────────
self-sufficient, 自立した、自給自足の
──────────────────────────────
Someone who is self-sufficient is able to live happily
without anyone else.

ex) He'd created a tiny, self-sufficient world for himself.

──────────────────────────────
pooh-pooh, 軽くあしらう、ばかにする
──────────────────────────────
If someone pooh-poohs an idea or suggestion, they say or
imply that it is foolish, impractical, or unnecessary.

ex) In the past he has pooh-poohed suggestions that he
might succeed Issacs.

──────────────────────────────
have no bearing on, …に何のかかわりもない
──────────────────────────────
If something has a bearing on a situation or event,
it is relevant to it.

ex) Experts generally agree that diet has an important
bearing on your general health.

──────────────────────────────
crunch, 危機、いざという時
──────────────────────────────
You can refer to an important time or event, for example
when an important decision has to be made, as the crunch.

ex) He can rely on my support when the crunch comes.

──────────────────────────────
self-defeating, 自滅的な
──────────────────────────────
A plan or action that is self-defeating is likely to cause
problems or difficulties instead of producing useful
results.

Being the newest addition to the team makes it easy
to overstep bounds.

My boss wasn't pleased, and actually became quite vengeful,
if we forget to send her not only cards but flowers and
gifts as well.

Shuzo hates fawning.

Managing up is just as essential as fine-tuned teamwork
with equals.

■意味を考えてみよう。答えは以下で

overstep bounds
vengeful
fawning
fine-tune
equal

──────────────────────────────
overstep bounds, 出すぎたまねをする
──────────────────────────────
If you say that someone oversteps the limits of a system or
situation, you mean that they do something that is not
allowed or is not acceptable.

ex) In male company, perhaps he did overstep the bounds
of propriety.

──────────────────────────────
vengeful, 執念深い
──────────────────────────────
If you describe someone as vengeful, you are critical of them
because they feel a great desire for revenge.

revengeする欲求が高いのをvengefulというのでしょう。

revengeの同意語でvengeanceも「復讐」
avengeは「復讐する」

ex) He was stabbed to death by his vengeful wife.

──────────────────────────────
fawning, へつらい
──────────────────────────────
If you say that someone fawns over a powerful or rich person,
you disapprove of them because they flatter that person and
like to be with him or her.

同意語 kowtow

ex) People fawn over you when you're famous.

──────────────────────────────
fine-tune, 微調整する
──────────────────────────────
If you fine-tune something, you make very small and precise
changes to it in order to make it as successful or
effective as it possibly can be.

ex) We do not try to fine-tune the economy on the basis of
short-term predictions.

──────────────────────────────
equal, 対等[同等]の人
──────────────────────────────
Someone who is your equal has the same ability, status, or
rights as you have.